


fire starters & band-aids

by halcyin



Series: one shots & ficlets [5]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pyromania
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 15:18:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4440875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halcyin/pseuds/halcyin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What kind of band-aids do you want?” Ryan rummaged through the cabinet underneath the sink, digging out multiple packages of band-aids that they had purchased throughout the years.</p><p>Ray bit down on his lip, eyes flickering over his choices. “Hello Kitty ones.” He grinned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fire starters & band-aids

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Robinn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robinn/gifts).



> pyromanic ray and his boyfriend ryan. i've been wanting to write this for a while, so finally got to it. i've decided to dedicated this to my extremely wonderful and lovely friend, robin. enjoy! <3

Ray was tempted just to toss the lighter in.

Fire was beautiful, and it made the small smile on Ray’s face just spread into a grin. He reached into his pocket, instead deciding on throwing the box of matches into the blaze before slipping both his hands into his pockets. 

It felt so nice, to watch the porch of the home ignite into hungry fire. It licked at the old, rotting wood of the home, spreading so nicely due to the dry air of Los Santos. As a kid in New York, it hadn’t burned this well. It was something he never got used to despite living in the city for the past five years with the Fake AH Crew. 

He was snapped out of his mesmerized state, a figure approaching him, carrying a canteen in hand. Ray smiled, holding out his hand for the tank.

The figure came closer, now in the firelight, a skull mask covering up his face. He handed Ray the petrol tank, coming up besides the other. “Don’t hurt yourself, alright? I’ll fucking come in there and get you if you take more than two minutes.”

Ray nodded— it wouldn’t take him long— and begun walking towards the blaze. He carefully stepped over burning planks, walking into the engulfed threshold of the building. He uncapped the petrol can, covering his nose at the smell with his shirt and moved quickly as he sprayed the liquid. The fire quickly chased him, eating up the oil as he ran throughout the home to cover it completely, avoiding toppled beams and roach infested peeling wallpaper. 

The adrenaline from fleeing the fire took over, Ray staying a bit longer than intended to watch the flames rise up from the floor and consume the graffitied walls. He finally looked away from the golden light. Guilt rose up in his throat from the thought that Ryan would be worrying about him, but the flames also managed to distract him. 

He kicked down the back door, reaching down and pulling it back into the house before stepping over it to the other side. He used the toe of his sneakers to kick it into the flames and watched it smoke and then ignite. He dumped the rest of the petrol he hadn’t used on the back porch, hopping down the stairs. He rounded the home and walked back to Ryan waiting by the front porch.

“You alright?”

Ray held up a finger, checking his clothing before noting the burns that he hadn’t noticed earlier when starting it, being too busy and distracted by the fire. He shrugged. “Yeah, a couple burns, but.”

Ryan sighed, ruffling Ray’s hair affectionately. Ray couldn’t help but smile again, backing away to grab that hand and interlock their fingers. “My two favorite things.” The younger laughed, watching the fire and rested his head on Ryan’s shoulder.

He could feel a chuckle rumble in Ryan’s chest. “I thought video games topped both me and fire.”

“Fuck, you’re right,” Ray teased, laughing, tightening his grip on Ryan’s hand. He felt the taller man’s thumb rub his knuckles as they watched the fire.

It was after a heist had Ryan drove his motorcycle to this home. It was a home out in the middle of nowhere with a demolition gate to keep out vandals. It had had a set down for being demolished last year, forgotten long ago by the city and the fence falling into shambles. Instead of burning down someone’s house and catching the attention of the police again, Ryan had gone around the county earlier that week in search of somewhere safe for Ray to burn.

Once he had found this place, he knew it was perfect. As perfect as an ugly house out in the middle of nowhere could get— but it was perfect for Ray.

It was better than the alternatives by far, Ryan thought to himself, turning to watch Ray, seeing the enthralled look in his eyes.

It would either be burn down the whole city and have the fire department take care of it or the smell of rotten flesh burning off of dead bodies. Ryan wasn’t sure what was worse; they both already reeked of death and fire by now.

He wasn’t sure how long they’d be here. It was a small house. But it depended on how long until the stress worked its way back into Ray’s system. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sounds of the building crumbling under the flames.

Ray moved away, earning Ryan’s attention and a rise of an eyebrow.

“Just let me go closer, I’m not gonna torch myself.” Ray looked up at him. He had his pouty face on, eyes dying just to get closer to the flames.

Ryan bit down on his lip. “Don’t hurt yourself too much. I’m not cutting your hair again.”

Ray flashed him a grin. He walked over to the front of the house, moving so that he was among of already burned wood.

He stomped on the dying embers of the wood on the front of the house. He watched the little flames escape the wood, fingers running lightly and quickly over the burnt front porch pillars, burning the skin slightly. It hurt, but it took his emotions away. He was too mesmerized by the pain and the beauty to think of the day’s stress coming back.

Ray retracted his hands after the dying embers got too much for him to handle, slipping his hands into his pockets and balling them into fists to ignore the burning.

His lungs screamed for anything but carbon dioxide, having lingered too long admiring the last of the flames licking at the dead wood. Thus, Ray moved away from the burnt front section of the house, looking into the doorway to watch the rest of the house burn. He turned, coughing as he walked back to Ryan.

“Hands,” Ryan said, breath a bit shaky.

Ray pursed his lips and held out his hands, palms out. The skin was red and irritated on his hand, definitely going to blister later. Ryan would treat them once they got home, for now Ray would have to deal with the pain.

“You ready to go home?” Ryan asked softly. Ray had his back to him now, watching the rest of the home be consumed in wild flames. He gave a soft nod, spinning on his heel to face the taller.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Ryan’s hand found Ray’s back, leading them both to his motorcycle parked on the other side of the street. Ryan got on first, and then Ray. They both sped into the night, leaving the house to its own demise.

 

* * *

 

“We were beginning to worry,” Jack said as they walked in the door from the garage. She stood washing the dishes at the sink, meeting Ryan’s eyes as he pulled off the mask and set it on the counter. 

“We had to go outside Los Santos. Didn’t want to attract the police.” Ryan answered. He stretched, pulling off his now tattered jacket from the heist and hanging it on the coatrack.

Ray’s eyes flickered around the penthouse, finding that Jack was the only one in the kitchen and living room. “Where’d everyone go?”

Jack set the plate down in the sink, turning around, drying her hands and leaning on the counter. “Geoff went out to the liquor store and Gavin and Michael are on their way from the safehouse. Michael had a pretty bad graze, but Caleb patched him up.” 

Ray nodded, accepting the answer. Ryan ruffled his hair affectionately, walking out of the room and into the corridor. Ray smiled at Jack, not noticing the concern in her eyes,  and then followed his boyfriend into the bathroom. 

They had a routine by now, every time Ray would have some type of burn, depending on how stressful the heist had been. It was like clockwork. 

Ray plopped down on the toilet, pulling off his hoodie and than his shirt, exposing the burns on his arms from the previous heist last week. He splayed out his hands for Ryan to treat the new burns.

Ryan shuffled through the medicine cabinet. He pulled out the cream from its usual place, uncapping it and knelt down in front of Ray.

He first put the cream on Ray’s arms, the younger humming at the cold ointment spreading across his skin. Ryan massaged it deep into the skin, because maybe, it would just heal a little bit quicker with more work and care.

Next, despite Ray’s whining, Ryan put his hands under the running water. Ray first winced at the contact, but he got used to the coolness like all the many times before.

After sometime, Ryan removed them and applied the cream to the fresh burns.

“What kind of band-aids do you want?” Ryan rummaged through the cabinet underneath the sink, digging out multiple packages of band-aids that they had purchased throughout the years.

Ray bit down on his lip, eyes flickering over his choices. “Hello Kitty ones.” He grinned. 

Ryan chuckled under his breath, taking out a handful. He carefully got to work, bringing the garbage can over to him discard the slips of paper.

“I think we should start doing where you kiss every burn to make it better,” Ray chuckled.

Ryan rolled his eyes. “You’re just trying to find an excuse for me to kiss you.”

Ray bit down on his lip. “I’m giving you reasons for you to kiss me more.”

He stopped as he was in mid action of unwrapping the first band-aid. He moved so that he standing on his knees and leaned forward, pressing a small kiss to Ray’s forehead. 

“Good enough.” The younger replied.

He pulled the band-aids around Ray’s fingertips, covering the ointment and white blisters rimmed in irritated red skin.

Six out of ten fingers did Ryan end up putting band-aids on.

“I look fucking great with these,” Ray laughed, turning his hands around to admire Ryan’s handiwork. “But, sit down, it’s your turn.”

Ryan groaned. They both shuffled around in the small space so that Ryan was now sitting on the toilet, discarding his shirt in the bathtub.

The blond’s back was bleeding just a bit; thankfully it was only a few scrapes. However on the front, Ryan was sporting a couple of irritated burns. The skin had obliviously been festering for a bit, blisters apparent

“You fall back from an explosion, or something?”

Ryan rolled his eyes, running a hand through his hair. “Michael.”

Ray carried on in silence besides his content humming. He rubbed the cream on Ryan’s chest, cleaned a couple of grazes on Ryan’s arms, and the raspberries on his back. He looked up from his work, reaching over to grab bandages from the cabinet. “Did it mess up your jacket?”

From the sigh the blond uttered, Ray groaned as well in agreement, understanding the noise from his boyfriend.

“We’ll have to go buy a new now, _again_.” Ryan grumbled.

Ray shrugged apathetically. “Just mooch some money off of Geoff. He’ll just spend it on the penthouse or liquor anyways, so it’s better to put it to good use.”

The blond lifted up his arms, allowing the shorter to wrap the bandages around his body. After Ray washed his hands of the blood and cream mixture, he turned to find Ryan looming over him.

Ryan chuckled and stood up from the toilet, stretching with his arms above his head. “Thanks.”

Ray rubbed the towel against his hands, leaning against the door to watch Ryan stretch. “No problem, asshole.”

Ryan smiled, leaning down to capture Ray’s lips in an innocent kiss. They were both too exhausted to do something more than chaste.

“I love you,” Ryan mumbled, tucking a lock behind Ray’s ear.

The shorter grinned, uttering a soft yawn. “I love you too.”

 

* * *

 

“Wow, Ray, nice look,” Michael laughed, standing near the television to get a good look at him.

Ray glared at the other, stuck tightly in Ryan’s embrace. It wasn’t his fault that they had fallen asleep on the couch. Ryan could be a deep sleeper, and now he was proving that true. 

Ray had gotten up two hours ago, finding the Xbox controller he had let fall in his sleep on the ground and deciding to keep himself busy until Ryan woke up. Nights after heists were hard, and cuddled up playing video games while everyone was asleep was their best option.

Now Michael was pointing at his band-aid covered fingers that were trying to press the buttons on the controller, which proved to be difficult. “You look like you’re a three year old with all those.” 

“I look fucking great,” Ray stuck out his tongue, trying to play his game, the sound on low for Ryan’s sake.

“You’re playing like fucking shit. Let me go get Gavin so we can fucking pound you into dust.”

“He’s right,” Ray heard a deep voice chuckle, turning his head to see Ryan smile down at him.

“Shut up, jerk. I’m handicapped at the moment.”


End file.
